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Headunit upgrade advice

7K views 28 replies 7 participants last post by  subbie09 
#1 ·
Well due to a fellow member on here upgrading their headunit in their wk2 with stock alpine system, I guess I am going this route now. My question is what are some good headunits to pick from and what wiring accessories will I need to connect to stock wiring and RCA out to aftermarket amp?

Also, stock speakers will work with the wiring hook up?

Anybody have diagrams on how they connected the wiring harness to the stock wires?
 
#2 ·
What fellow member is this? lol. As far as headunits, I don't think any 1 is much BETTER than the other. It all depends on preference. As long as you stick with well known and established brands like pioneer, alpine, and kenwood you will be happy. Main thing is you do your research and make sure the unit you choose has the features and interface you want. What I would do is go to every shop and big box store you can, to play around with different types and models. From there you should know what you want. PAC harnesses is basically everything you need. Just need to find the right ones to keep whatever factory options you have. A quick google search will have everything you need. Yes the stock speakers will work using the PAC harness as long as their connected correctly. You're just talking of the center dash and rear pods right?
 
#7 ·
Greetings,

Pioneer, Kenwood Excelon and Alpine have excellent internal amps to generate the hi-level signal going into the factory system. Also consider JVC head units. Remember for the navigation and telephone sound, take the front speakers and connect them into the rear speaker output in the harness. This will give you the 2-channel signal the factory Alpine system needs to process the information in the DSP. The PAC and Metra interfaces have excellent instructions to view.

If you plan on ditching the factory amp down the road and going with an aftermarket DSP, then stick with Pioneer's AVH series and use their external navi (IGO Primo software), Kenwood Excelon and Alpine as the first choices again.

Basically, if you use any digital media, check out which DAC they use. When it comes to analog signals via audio inputs, Pioneer has always produced clean signal paths. They make two the best 1-din receives on the market.

Otherwise, the majority of the internal Mosfet amps from the manufactures are the same with different wattage between them.

Best for now.:)
 
#8 ·
No matter which aftermarket headunit you get, you NEED the PAC RP4-CH11 radio replacement interface to connect the aftermarket headunit to the Jeep's data bus. You can't just hack into the Jeep wiring. You'll seriously screw up the onboard computer and then you're dead in the water.
 
#9 ·
So I am stuck between the Kenwood DNX890HD and the Apline INE-W927Hd.

I saw someone on the forum used the DNX already and said it won't flip open for the CD. Wondering how much trimming is needed.

I like the look of the Kenwood better but am a Alpine fan at heart. Choices choices...
 
#10 ·
subbie you're stuck between the same 2 that I am looking at right now. What made you narrow it down to the Kenwood among the Alpine? I love the Alpine since I am familiar with the brand quality, but the Kenwood seems to have EVERYTHING on it, especially Garmin nav which I am a fan of.
 
#11 ·
The Kenwood has everything including the Garmin, and a 13 band equalizer where the alpine has 8. The only reluctant I have with the Lenwood is that I searched here on the forums and one person has it and it is such a tight fit it won't open to put in a cd. Trimming will have to be done.

I also chose the kenwood bc of the user interface. Icons and swipe. Although its startup time is slow, roughly 29 seconds.

I had an alpine in my previous vehicle and loved it. Someone on here has that model and they love or. Same price as both. Although spec for spec the Kenwood has more.
 
#12 ·
As much as I like the features of the Kenwood, the Alpine still comes out on top to me, mostly because I think the interface looks a lot cleaner to me, and just my general liking of their products.

I really wish, based on the other write-up in this subforum, that the 8" screen Alpine unit would fit with ACC installed, but I don't want to remove one feature to add another. I am probably going to email Alpine and see if they have plans for a install kit for our Jeeps, otherwise I might have to get creative. I really am envious of my fiancee's new Dart's 8.4 screen, and I want something nice like that!
 
#14 ·
After doing some homework, I REALLY like the idea of the Kenwood. Like you said, it just looks like a cleaner install, which is what I am aiming for. Also, their 990 model (just came out) seems to have a lot more to offer.

Unrelated slightly: but iDatalink is also supported by Kenwood. While there's nothing for Uconnect right now, they're supposedly releasing a model for our vehicles later this year. Which probably would make me wait, since it should offer a lot easier install, and retain a lot more functionality.

While I am not too "up" on upgrading audio in our Jeeps, with a unit like the Alpine or Kenwood, the only Uconnect function we'd lose is the USB port in the arm rest, right? Or would we lose the in-car voice and everything as well? I have been trying to look up what features we'd lose but I'm at a loss - and I really want to keep that stock USB location, steering wheel controls, and not have to wire in another mic for calls.
 
#15 ·
You willpower the arm rest USB port, along with the voice activated commands. I only use the USB port and the headunit comes with one so to me not a loss. Also, the stock rear view camera can be wired in so as long as that works I am happy. Steering wheel controls can retain function.
 
#16 ·
I don't think the voice command is much of a loss, since it got my commands wrong half the time, so I never really used it. I know some headunits offer their own voice command as well. The USB port I can get creative and mount my new one in the same spot or splice the wiring if I really want it to be in the same location. And the camera I saw RageOfFury's conversion so I am confident that works. The PAC harness also wires into the stock Alpine amp, right? I want to change headunit and speakers, but I don't want to go around running new wiring in the Jeep, since I have a feeling I will not keep it past 3-4 years.

So essentially keeping the stock Uconnect seems like a waste. Do the stock phone/voice buttons still work with the steering wheel adaptor for phone use, or will those go to waste?
 
#17 ·
Yes the PAC has an adapter that is needed to wire in to retain the stock speakers. There is also an adapter for the rear view camera and I have a PM in to that person to see how he wired it. More than likely i will get the kenwood just because of the adjustability it has for EQ andDSP since I have Focal components, Focal rear doors and soon a stealthbox.
 
#18 ·
Seems like we have the same idea for a system. I want to change the headunit, and put in a component set for the front and rear (depending on how the rear tweeters are wired). The dash speaker can stay... for now. But the stealthbox definitely caught my attention since I use all my trunk space.

IIRC, the Kenwood has its own voice command system as well, so it seems like a very fitting replacement to the stock 430 radio and Uconnect. The Alpine I haven't been able to see anything saying it has voice recognition.
 
#21 ·
SOOOO with ZERO percent interest for 12 months at Amazon I went ahead and ordered the following today:

-Kenwood Excelon DNX890HD
-Kenwood KCA-IP202 Ipod Cable
-Antenna Adapter
-PAC RP4-CH11
-PAC Jeep Rear Video Retention Cable
-Metra Jeep In Dash Receiver Kit
-Apple Lightening to USB adapter
-Micro Bypass Parking Brake Override for Kenwood
 
#22 ·
Nice! That is similar to what I want to end up getting, but I am waiting to get some hands-on time with the 890 and 990 and see if the new model is worth it.

Also, was the ipod cable necessary for the install? I cannot remember the headunit's specs, but I thought it could just use a normal USB... or was that not included either?
 
#23 ·
The 890 has 2 USB ports so no, the Kenwood Ipod cable was not needed. BUTTTT, if you do buy the selected cable, it allows the 890HD to bypass the setting on the iphone/ipod and use it as a analog signal to fully maximize the sound using a 24 bit digital to analog converter. Since I listen to Pandora and use my IPOd the most, I felt this was beneficial to me. I have Sirius now, but will be cancelling my subscription once this unit is in, and go with Pandora.
 
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